Thank You
by Timothy D
Summary: After a particularly bad day, Lynn comes home to find a certain someone waiting for her. One shot.


_My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all, _

_The morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all, _

_And even if I could it would all be grey, but your picture on my wall, _

_It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad_

From the moment that her alarm went off late, Lynn should've known that today wasn't exactly going to go the way she expected. Thirty minutes after she was supposed to be awake, Lynn's alarm came blaring into her ear. With a moan, Lynn sat up and stretched before looking out the window and seeing that outside it was pouring down raining. Not the best conditions for what was in store, but that wasn't going to stop her. It was only when she glanced over at her clock and saw the time that Lynn panicked.

"Oh crap!" She exclaimed, leaping out of bed and sprinting to get to the bathroom, only to find a line as usual, prompting her to mutter under her breath "You've gotta be bloody kidding me."

Of all the days that she could wake up late, why did today have to be one of them? Lynn didn't exactly have big plans for today, but she did have basketball practice with her team and not just any practice either. For the third year in a row, Lynn had led her team to the state championship and was looking to perform a three peat by winning the trophy and ring one more time. It was her last game before she entered high school and Lynn wanted to make a huge impression before freshman year. Winning another championship would likely ensure that she was picked for the high school girl's basketball team during her first year rather than have to wait. Needless to say, this round of practice was very important to her and a surefire top priority. Of course, she had to get to practice first and seeing as she was at the back of a very long bathroom line, the likeliness of her making it there in time was in doubt.

_I drank too much last night, got bills to pay, my head just feels in pain._

Although Lynn normally could be very much impatient, on this morning she was kicking herself too much for sleeping in to even be concerned about the bathroom line. Whining, moaning and trying to barge to the front wasn't going to help her case so she'd just have to grin and bear it. After a good half an hour, Lynn finally got the chance to use the bathroom and take a shower before getting dressed. Once she was dressed, Lynn decided to forgo breakfast in an effort to make it to practice in time. Instead, she simply bid her siblings goodbye and rushed out the door. It was only after she walked out the door that she realized she had forgotten an umbrella for the pouring rain. Feeling that it was too late to turn back, Lynn simply carried on and covered her head as she rain toward the basketball auditorium.

_I missed the bus and there'll be hell to pay. _

_I'm late for work again, and even if I'm there they'll all imply that I might not last the day._

Unfortunately, despite her best efforts, Lynn ended up falling short, arriving at practice 15 minutes late when the other girls were taking part in a scrimmage, with the team's water girl taking Lynn's place during the practice round. Lynn's tardiness did not go unnoticed by the team's coach.

"What have we here?" The coach asked. "I wouldn't expect you of all people to be late, Loud! Especially with how high the stakes are for our next game!"

"Sorry Coach," Lynn apologized, "I just had a rough morning."

"Rough morning, huh?" The coach asked, "well your morning's about to get even rougher. Start running laps around the court until I say stop. After that, you can take part in the scrimmage game"

"Yes ma'am," Lynn said with a sigh as she began running laps around the court. Under normal circumstances, Lynn would've been able to complete at least 15 laps within five minutes, but since she'd skipped breakfast and had no food in her system, Lynn was slightly more sluggish and slower than usual, something that didn't go unnoticed by her coach.

"Are you sure you're alright, Loud?" The coach asked her. "You're not moving at your usual speed."

"Yeah," Paula chimed in from the game, narrowing avoiding being hit in the head after being passed the ball. "You don't seem like yourself today."

"I'm fine," Lynn insisted, on her tenth lap, "just a little off is all."

"If you say so," the coach said, returning her attention to the scrimmage game as Lynn kept running.

_And then you call me, and it's not so bad, it's not so bad, _

_And I want to thank you, for giving me the best day of my life, and _

_Oh just to be with you is giving me the best day of my life_

Five minutes later and with 10 more laps under her belt, Lynn felt her phone vibrate. Cursing herself for forgetting to put it on silent, Lynn decided that it couldn't hurt to take a quick peek at her phone. Upon pulling it out, Lynn saw that she had received a text from her boyfriend, Chris. The text read "Hey, sorry I didn't catch you earlier. Got pretty busy acting as Dungeon Master of an RPG last night and ended up staying up until two in the morning so I woke up late. Hope practice goes well. Just remember, whether or not you win or lose in the championship game, you're still my number one! (Not that you're going to lose) See ya later!"

Reading Chris' text briefly gave Lynn a reprieve from the stress of both being late, having to run laps, and being incredibly hungry. She always enjoyed hearing from him whenever she couldn't see him and whenever his picture popped up alongside the text notification, Lynn couldn't help but smile. Unfortunately, that smile wouldn't last long.

"Texting during practice, eh Loud?" The coach asked.

"No, no," Lynn tried to explain. "I was just trying to silence it so that it-,"

"Save your excuses," the coach told her, "it's clear that you don't care about winning our upcoming game. Either that or you figured we're such a shoo-in to win that you're just going to phone in a performance."

Out of all the things the coach could've said, that one hurt Lynn the most. Whenever Lynn went into any sort of competition, she gave it everything she had and treated it as if it were the most important thing in the world. Any of her siblings could tell that that was a fact. For the coach to imply that she was simply half-assing it was more insulting to Lynn than spitting in her face. No one gave it their all more than Lynn and while she could have a bit of an ego, she was never one to coast on her laurels.

"But-," Lynn tried to object.

"Save it, Loud," the coach told her, "I was going to let you off and join in the scrimmage, but as punishment for getting distracted, I want you to run another 30 laps, got it?"

Lynn sighed and said "Yes ma'am," as she resumed running her laps.

The running itself wasn't too much of a punishment since Lynn was used to long length running and could complete the extra laps with no issue. However, when Lynn finished up her laps, she naturally was very tired and wanted to take a moment to catch her breath before hopping into the scrimmage game. Still frustrated over what she saw as being flippant and disrespectful, the coach didn't allow Lynn a water break and instead threw her straight into the scrimmage game. From Lynn's perspective, the coach simply wanted to punish her even more for being lazy and maybe even wanted to break her. Lynn wasn't going to let that happen however, she had too much pride in herself to allow anyone have the satisfaction of seeing her quit; it might've just been a scrimmage game, but Lynn was going to give it everything she had and then some.

Pushing herself as hard as she possibly could, Lynn put in maximum effort to this scrimmage game, showing signs of ruthlessness when it came to stealing the ball and making shots. The coach thought she was phoning it in? If the display she was presenting during a simple practice game was an example of her "phoning it in", then God help whoever was the opposition when she was giving it her all. Unfortunately, sometimes Lynn pushed herself way too hard when she was going off and on this occasion, it would bite her in the butt. A pass from Maya set Lynn up perfectly for an alley oop, which the latter did with ease. However on the way back down, Lynn landed awkwardly on her left leg, twisting her ankle in the process. She quickly let out a short scream and hissed in pain as she crumpled to the ground. Her teammates were quick to come to her aid and try to see what was wrong.

"Are you alright?" Amy asked. "That looked like a pretty hard fall."

"I'm fine," Lynn said, gritting her teeth as she blocked out the searing pain shooting through her ankle and tried standing up. Once again, Lynn's pride came into play as she didn't want anyone to see her as being hurt and helpless.

"Hold on there, Loud," the coach said, urging Lynn to stay seated rather than try putting weight on her injured ankle, "that was a nasty fall and your ankle isn't looking so good."

"I told you, I'm fine," Lynn said, disregarding the coach's advice and standing up on her own. She didn't want anyone to be giving her a hand. Of course, the coach wasn't going to let it go so easily.

"I know this may not be what you wanna hear, but I think you may have sprained your ankle," The coach told her. "You definitely don't wanna be putting weight on it for the foreseeable future. That'll slow down the healing process."

"Thanks for the concern," Lynn said, "but I already told you I'm going to be alright. Besides, the game's in a week, I can't afford to miss because of some silly bruise…"

"Yeah, about that…" the coach said, nervously rubbing the back of her neck, "I cannot in good faith allow one of my players to partake in the game while they're injured, especially when they're my star player."

"What are you saying?" Lynn asked, dreading the answer she would receive.

"Listen, if you can heal up in time for the game next week, I have no problem putting you in," the coach said, "but I have to put your well-being first. If you're not in proper condition to play, I'm going to have to keep you on the sidelines."

"Y-You can't do that!" Lynn said, doing her best to hide the heartache in her voice. This game meant everything to her, she couldn't just have it taken away from her like this.

"I'm sorry Loud," the coach apologized, "but I have to do what's best for you."

"Best for me, my ass!" Lynn snapped, standing up on her own two feet out of frustration and once again ignoring the pain. "This is ridiculous!"

"Lynn, calm down," Paula said, "it's not the end of the world."

"It is for me!" Lynn replied before calming down and apologizing to Paula and then gathering up her stuff. "If I can't play in the game, then what's the point of me even being here?"

"Wait, Loud…" The coach tried talking to her to no avail as Lynn limped out the door.

When she had been on her way to the auditorium, Lynn had been able to somewhat outrun the rain to keep from getting completely soaked. With her ankle killing her now however, she could only limp as fast as she could, which wasn't nearly as quick. Today really had been unkind to her. Oversleeping was just one factor in how crappy today had been; being late to practice, forced to run laps, essentially being called lazy, getting hurt and then finding out she'd possibly be pulled from the championship game all contributed to what could only be called a clusterfuck of a shit show. Admittedly, the rain felt a little refreshing after she'd pushed herself to the limit, but with how her day had been going, Lynn wouldn't be surprised if she ended up getting a lecture from Mom when she got home about not wearing a raincoat or taking an umbrella with her. That'd just be the cherry on top of this shit sundae.

The farther Lynn walked, the more her ankle started to aggravate her. The feeling was synonymous with having her leg set on fire. Still, Lynn was determined not to show her weakness and soldiered on through grit teeth, mumbling to herself as she went along. It took a long time for her to make it home, but eventually she made it up to the front door, drenched from head to toe.

_Push the door, I'm home at last and I'm soaking through and through_

_And then you handed me a towel, and all I see is you_

_And even if my house falls down now, I wouldn't have a clue_

_Because you're near me and_

Lynn sighed and took a deep breath, accepting the inevitable lecture that was on its way, as she reached for the doorknob and walked through the front door. What she found waiting for her instead was her boyfriend, Chris, waiting for her with a rose in his hand. She was dumbfounded for a second as all she could do was stare.

"Sorry," Chris apologized sheepishly with a giggle. "I know it's kinda cheesy, but I wanted to do something a little special for you…"

"Chris, this is sweet, I… I," Lynn said, "I wasn't expecting you."

"Well who's to say I can't pop in to surprise my girlfriend every now and again?" Chris asked with a smile. "Although I will admit that I wasn't expecting you back this early, did something go wrong?"

"Well, kinda," Lynn said before she could no longer withstand the pain in her leg and collapsed to the floor. Or at least, she would have, had Chris not been then to catch her in his arms. The two of them looked each other in the eyes and smiled before Chris scooped Lynn up in his arms.

"Are you okay?" Chris asked out of concern.

"I'll explain everything," Lynn said, hissing with pain as she undid her laces and took off her shoe to alleviate the pressure on her ankle. Chris noticed this right away and carried Lynn over to the Loud family sofa where he gently placed her back down. Afterwards, he quickly rushed and got a towel so that Lynn could dry off.

"What's wrong?" Chris asked, picking up on the despair in her voice right away.

"Well…" Lynn said before explaining everything.

"And now you're finding out that you might miss the championship game next week?" Chris asked. Lynn sadly nodded her head and Chris said "I'm sorry to hear that, I know that that game meant everything to you."

"Yeah, it did," Lynn said, "and I tried to tell them that I'd be fine to compete but that wouldn't listen."

"Let me take a look at it," Chris said, urging Lynn to put her leg in his lap. Lynn obliges and Chris took a few minutes to examine her sprain. "I don't think that this is a serious sprain."

"You're not just saying that to make me feel better, are you?" Lynn asked.

"No, no, of course not," Chris said, "I mean, I am studying to be a sports doctor and part to that requires being honest with every single one of my patients…" He smiles at Lynn and said "especially when it comes to my number one patient."

"So what do you suppose I do?" Lynn asked.

"Well your coach and team were right that you shouldn't be putting weight on it," Chris told her. "Maybe try using crutches for a few days and putting ice on it to deal with the swelling."

"And how long will it take to heal?" Lynn asked.

"If I had to guess, I'd say 3-4 days," Chris told her.

"Are you sure?" Lynn asked.

"I'm not making any promises, but that's my best bet," Chris said, leading to Lynn giving him a massive bear hug.

"Yes!" Lynn cheered. "That means I'll be able to make it to the game!"

"Glad that I could help make your day," Chris said.

"Oh trust me, you made my day in more ways than one," Lynn told him. "I'm not lying when I say that this day was going completely to shit before you got here."

"In that case, I'm extra glad that I decided to pay you a surprise visit," Chris said.

"Speaking of which," Lynn said, "how long were you waiting behind the front door for me?"

"Ummm…" Chris said.

"You said you weren't expecting me to be home so early so were you just standing behind the door for hours on end, waiting on me?" Lynn asked.

"Maybe not hours, but…" Chris said before a certain otaku chimed in from upstairs, saying "He waited 57 minutes and 36 seconds!"

"What he said," Chris said sheepishly.

"And you just stood there with a rose in your hand?" Lynn asked. "What if one of my sisters or even my brother came back home before me?"

"I… didn't really think that far," Chris admitted. "I just figured you'd be back first because you like to be first in everything you do."

"Hmm, fair point," Lynn conceded, "still, you didn't have to do that for me."

"Maybe not," Chris said, "but I wanted to."

Lynn rewarded him for his devotion by giving him a kiss. He definitely deserved it after he uplifted her day. Afterwards, Lynn asked him "So, you up for a game of Mario Party?"

"I'd love that," Chris said as he and Lynn picked up their controllers and booted up the game.

The day may not have gone the way Lynn planned, but she'd always be thankful for the presence of her awesome boyfriend.

_I just want to thank you, for giving me the best day of my life_

_Oh, just to be with you, is giving me the best day of my life._


End file.
